Originally written August 30, 2001
Each time the door opens to the Venus Beauty Institute (the salon carries the same name as the film), the sound of a harp playing a gently ascending scale can be heard. Little touches like this are what I enjoyed most about Venus Beauty Institute. The film comes from France and is the story of Angele, a beautician who struggles to find love and forgiveness in her life. Angele rubs away tired muscles, exfoliates dry skin and rejuvenates her clients every day, but she cannot seem to find any comfort in her own life. One stylistic element other than the sound that intrigued me was the lighting. The cinematographer attempted to have realistic lighting in many of the shots. In one scene where Angele and her friend are having lunch, Angele’s friend is lit with too much back light from the window behind her. Perhaps it was a mistake in filming to leave out the fill light and tone down the backlight, but it made the scene seem more realistic.
Venus Beauty Institute played at the Heights Theater for the closing night gala. One of the speakers who talked before the film said that the film was “very French�. Perhaps it was the nudity, sex or lengthy dialogue that made the film “very French�. However, I am certain that it was not very Hollywood in the sense that there was only one scene with a gun and you could see that Angele had wrinkles!
at October 16, 2006 11:17 PM